Letting Her In
by dwparsnip
Summary: Three years after Jennifer's death, Rodney receives comfort from a surprising source. The question is, will he let her in?
1. Chapter 1

Don't know where this came from, or where it's going, if anywhere. This is exactly one page long in Word (minus the introduction), so my plan is to keep any future installments, if any, to one page. We'll see what happens.

MGM owns SGA, not me.

Not run through a beta. Character death is stated.

Any thoughts?

* * *

><p>Three years.<p>

It had been three years since Jennifer had passed away from complications due to the Pegasus version of Rheumatic Fever; three years since the woman he loved had left him; three years since he'd been happy; three years since he'd thought of anything except her and work.

For some reason, Sheppard thought it had been time to change that. He'd all but dragged Rodney kicking and screaming from his lab to the Mess where an impromptu party was in full swing. They were all there, his friends and Jennifer's, having a good time. For the next hour they'd done their best to try to get him to have some fun, and there were moments when he actually did laugh and feel something like happiness.

Those moments were fleeting though, and after a while he needed to be alone. Somehow he'd managed to slip out onto the balcony without being noticed. He'd moved to the rail and put his hands on it as he looked out onto the calm ocean surrounding Atlantis.

The peace didn't last long, and when he'd heard the door open he'd assumed it was Sheppard.

"Rodney?"

He was wrong.

Rodney half turned until she came into view, then turned back out to look at the ocean. "Cadman."

She moved to the rail and stood next to him. For reasons that escaped him, he really didn't mind.

"I miss her," he said, unsure of why he was telling this to Cadman of all people.

"I know," Laura replied, her voice full of compassion and understanding.

Rodney sighed and looked up to the bright moon looking down on them. "She was the only woman to really care. She was the only woman that didn't mind my, you know, attitude and whatever." Rodney took a shaky breath and let it out in a rush. "She was the first woman to really love me."

"You're wrong, Rodney," said Cadman softly after a moment of silence. When Rodney turned to her she reached over and covered his hand with hers, her hazel eyes drilling into his. "She was just the first one that you let in."

Before he could respond Laura gave his hand a gentle squeeze, then removed her hand and turned to walk away. He let her get to the door before he called out to her. "Cadman?"

She stopped as the door opened for her, but she didn't turn around.

"Thanks."

She nodded and quickly moved through the door, and as it closed behind her Rodney turned back to the moon once again. For some reason, he didn't feel quite as alone as he had been.


	2. Chapter 2

Laura paused as she stepped back into the Mess from the balcony where Rodney had gone for some solitude. She had no idea what had made her go to him in the first place, much less take his hand and say what she'd said.

It was almost as if she'd been drawn to him. _Don't be an idiot, Laura,_ she chided herself. _It's not like a piece of you was left in his head or anything. You saw someone you know- a friend- need some help. That's all._

Laura nodded and walked with confident steps into the Mess, intending on heading for the exit and going to her quarters for a long, hot shower. By the time she'd reached the exit however, her confident steps had devolved into a hesitant shuffle as her mind assessed, reassessed and then discarded her earlier justification.

_Who am I kidding?_ she thought, her internal voice mocking her feeble attempt to deny the truth. Maybe it was time to admit, if only to herself, that the connection she had with him was stronger than she'd thought and liked. Certainly whatever could have been between them had been rendered dormant due to distance, time and other people- Jennifer for Rodney and Alex for her. She also had no doubt that if Jennifer were still in Rodney's life she wouldn't think any more of Rodney than she had during the last six years. But with her and Rodney in the same place and Jennifer and Alex no longer in the picture, for totally different reasons, she kept remembering all the things about McKay that drove her nuts.

Laura came to a stop by the door and plopped down into a vacant chair, absently noting that she was facing the doors to the balcony and that Rodney hadn't as yet come back in to Mess.

_Six years,_ she reminded herself with an inward sigh. It had been six beautiful, blissful years since she'd thought of Rodney McKay as anything other than a rude, condescending, suspicious genius who, despite all outward appearances, had a heart bigger than most people gave him credit for.

"How's he doing?" asked Sheppard as he sat down in the chair to her right.

"Fine," she answered abruptly, drawing a curious look from her CO. "He's fine, sir." Laura gave Sheppard a melancholy smile as she added, "He misses her, that's all."

Sheppard nodded and looked to the balcony doors. "I'm not surprised. Jennifer was the first woman to get through all the crap and see the real Rodney."

Laura didn't say anything or so much as bat an eyelash as she smugly thought, _No she wasn't._

"Well," said Sheppard with a cheeky grin, "maybe not the first to see it, but the first to actually do anything with what she saw." Sheppard stood up and gave Laura a slightly challenging look. "Wouldn't you agree, Cadman?"

Laura didn't dare look up at the Colonel, nor did she answer the question or the subtle implication contained within it. In fact she stayed statue like until the Colonel walked away, waiting until he was out of ear shot to say, "Yes, sir."


	3. Chapter 3

The morning after the party, Rodney had neither the desire nor the inclination to go to the Mess for breakfast. His stomach however, desperate for something more than stale coffee and power bars threatened mutiny on a grand scale if he didn't get something decent to eat.

As it was he came up with a plan that he figured would appease his treasonous stomach while satisfying his wish to be back in his lab- he would do take out. It was a generally frowned upon practice, taking food out of the Mess and taking it to other parts of the city for consumption, but no one dared to say anything to him about it. Whether it was out of pity, fear or respect he didn't much give a damn so long as they left him alone.

He walked through the door to the Mess and immediately began to rethink his plan. The place was nearly full with a lineup at the counter that stretched way too far for him to tolerate without doing harm to himself or others. He had turned around and was about to head back to his lab, the threats from his stomach no longer threatening in the face of such a crowd, but a voice calling his name from the direction of the counter stopped him.

Rodney turned back in time to see the tail end of a wave from Cadman of all people. When she saw that he'd seen her, she waved him over. He stayed still for a moment, trying to figure out what she could possibly want.

Cadman waved at him again, this time beckoning him to come over to her with her right index finger. He couldn't help but smile a little- the last time he could remember Cadman using her finger to 'talk' to him it had been the middle one.

"Come here, McKay!" she shouted loud enough for him to hear her, but not so loud as to totally make a scene.

Rodney froze again and simply gaped at Cadman. At least he presumed what he was doing would be considered gaping. _Let's see,_ he thought with a sense of macabre amusement. _Open mouth? Check. Wide eyes? Check. Looking utterly stupid? Most likely. Yes, I am definitely gaping._

"Quit gaping at me and get over here!" Cadman called as the line ahead of her moved forward a pace or two. She however stayed where she was to leave a gap in the line ahead of her. "Come on…I saved you a spot."

Rodney shook his head to clear the funky fog that had been clouding his mind and looked back to Cadman who was just turning back to face him. He wasn't sure what she'd been doing, but the young Air Force officer immediately behind her was suddenly red-faced and looked like he was on the verge of tears.

He slowly made his way over to the line. He wasn't particularly fussy about butting in line, but before he could say anything Cadman grabbed his arm and pulled him into the empty spot ahead of her.

"Don't thank me," she said with a smile when he turned to face her. "Just save me a blueberry muffin if you can get your hands on one."


	4. Chapter 4

By licking the mashed blueberry off the tip of her thumb, Laura finished the last of her blueberry muffin and then wondered for the third time why she'd piled her plate so high with food. Sure breakfast was the most important meal of the day, but her stomach was only so big. She looked across the table they'd found- in a corner far away from the crush- and noticed Rodney was still barely picking at his food.

"Come on, McKay," she said with a kick at his leg under the table for good measure, "eat something. I'm not carrying your ass out of here if you pass out from malnourishment or low blood sugar."

Rodney glanced up and took a token bite of his own muffin, then lowered his eyes back to the table.

Laura frowned. "Come on, Rodney," she prodded gently, "you need to eat something besides power bars and three day old coffee." She hesitated for a moment and added, "You won't be any good to anyone if you don't take care of yourself."

Rodney's eyes slowly lifted until they bored into hers. To her surprise, his gaze wasn't malicious or dismissive, just surprised.

Literally in the blink of an eye, however, it was gone and his blue eyes became hard as stone. "Bite me, Cadman," he barked.

Startled by the suddenness of the change in Rodney and his small outburst, Laura's eyes bulged open and she quickly leaned back in her chair. Before she could recover Rodney had gotten up from his own chair and bolted for the exit.

"What the hell?" said Laura as she glared at Rodney's retreating back.

Laura jumped up out of her chair and engaged in a high speed pursuit that had her apologizing to at least four people before she got to the exit Rodney had escaped from. She saw him round the far corner and rushed to catch up to him. And as she rounded the same corner there was a nagging in the back of her mind about exactly what was happening. Here she was going after Rodney for the second time in as many days. To be fair however, last night she'd gone after him out of compassion. Now she was just pissed.

"McKay!" she called out. Her anger must have come out in her voice because Rodney stopped and turned to face her. She marched right up to him and faced him so that they were standing toe to toe. She knew by the way his eyes focused on hers that there was no chance he could mistake her anger for anything but that. She reached up and poked him in the chest with her right index finger…hard. "What the hell is wrong with you?" she demanded angrily.

"Stop pretending you care!" he answered immediately as though he'd been waiting for the question.

"I can't believe how idiotic you can be!" she responded with an exasperated throw of her arms into the air. "I'm not pretending!" She stopped and felt herself go just as rigid with shock as Rodney had in front of her. _Oh hell,_ she thought as she watched the gears start turning in Rodney's mind. She gave him a weak and resigned smile and said again, "I'm not pretending."


	5. Chapter 5

**_Reboot? Y/N?_**

_Y!_

**_Reboot in progress. Standby._**

**_Reboot complete._**

**_Command?_**

_Speak!_

"What?"

Cadman sighed in frustration, but even in his stupefied state Rodney knew it wasn't because of him as such, at least not directly.

"I care about you, Rodney," she said after a moment of silence that had been broken only by the sounds of their breathing. "I care about your health and how you feel." Laura's hazel eyes bored into his as she repeated the words that had started it all. "I'm not pretending. I do care about you. Very much."

Rodney's first reaction was to scoff at her; belittle her for her feeble and malicious attempt at humor. The only thing that stopped him was the fact that he knew she wasn't capable of such cruelty. Certainly she had a wicked sense of humor- after all, he had to admit it was sort of hilarious how she used his body to kiss Carson during the Dart thing- but she was never cruel with her jokes or comments.

Rodney thought about it for a moment, acutely aware of how Cadman stared at him with so much concern in her eyes that he almost felt ashamed for his earlier outburst. "What?"

The corners of Cadman's lips turned upward into a small smile. Rodney's eyes followed the outline of her top lip from left to right and then moved along her bottom lip back to the starting point. For the first time since he'd first seen her in the gate room those many years ago as they readied themselves for the trip to Thenora, Rodney couldn't help but think she had a beautiful smile.

Rodney's eyes slowly moved up and found Cadman's hazel eyes focused upon him. "I always thought… because of what I said when the Trust …" He stopped and gulped. "I thought you hated me."

Laura's smile turned into a smirk. "Well accusing me of being a spy for the Trust didn't earn you any Brownie points."

Rodney sighed and shook his head. "Cadman, I…"

Whatever he was going to say was crushed between his lips and Laura's as she quickly leaned forward and kissed him.

**_Command?_**

_Kiss her back!_


	6. Chapter 6

Laura had always been brave growing up, showing none of the wariness that many children were prone to exhibiting. It had caused her mother in particular some grief, especially when little Laura Cadman would walk up to a strange man in the supermarket and ask him what his name was and why he was buying a pineapple when she didn't really like pineapple.

It hadn't really surprised her parents or anyone who knew her well when she'd enlisted in the Marine Corps. It hadn't thrilled them, but it certainly hadn't surprised them. And while she hadn't been able to tell them about her current posting, she knew without a shadow of a doubt that they would only roll their eyes and say something like, 'Leave it to Laura', if she did tell them.

So it didn't really surprise her, nor should it have surprised anyone, that she'd all but jumped into Rodney and kissed him.

_Except Rodney,_ she thought as she continued to kiss Rodney and his lips remained sickeningly still. _Five seconds and he hasn't even moved. Maybe this was a mista…_

The thought disappeared in a flash of excitement as Rodney's lips pushed back against hers. Laura slid her hands up Rodney's arms, past his shoulders and then around his neck, bringing him into a hug that nearly pushed the entire length of her petite frame against his larger one.

She nearly giggled at the ticklish sensation caused by his hands grazing along her sensitive sides as they moved to encircle her waist, but she managed to hold the chuckle in knowing all too well it would ruin the moment as surely as a Wraith appearing behind them would.

Her heart was thumping against her chest in a rhythm that any drummer worth his or her salt would have envied. Kissing had always been a big deal for her- hadn't she shown it when she'd used Rodney's body to kiss Carson?- and the significance of this kiss wasn't lost on her. How could it with the way her chest and abdomen was pressed so intimately against him and their lips having fallen into a perfectly choreographed dance?

Laura nearly gasped as the tip of Rodney's tongue gently probed against her lips, and she only needed a heartbeat worth of thought to decide whether or not to meet the challenge. She let her tongue slip past her lips and she pushed against him a little harder in pleasure when it met his. To her credit she kept the moan that wanted to escape her mouth in check as their tongues slid along each other, and only a tiny sliver of her mind was able to register the fact that Rodney's hands were clutching at her shirt.

She'd kissed a few guys in her adult life. There'd been pecks on the cheek to all out tonsil hockey and all sorts of things in between, yet never before did a kiss send her body into such a state where it nearly hummed with anticipation; never before had a kiss made her feel like everything would be alright no matter what was thrown at her; never before did a kiss make her feel so complete.

Laura nearly groaned a moment later when Rodney drew his tongue back into his own mouth and started to wind the kiss down. When the kiss ended a moment later and she looked into his blue eyes, the only thing she could say between her ragged pants for air was, "Damn, McKay."


	7. Chapter 7

On the rare occasion since Jennifer's death that Rodney allowed himself the luxury of thinking about becoming involved with a woman, the fantasy invariably crashed in short order because of Jennifer. Something about her would enter his mind and that would be the end of that.

Yet know, as he looked into the slightly dilated pupils of the woman still in his arms, he was shocked to realize that not for a millisecond had he thought it was Jennifer's lips caressing his; not for a moment had he believed it was Jennifer he was holding in his arms; and not for an instant had he thought that the woman making him feel so alive was anyone other than Laura Cadman.

As his breathing began to even out and Laura's eyes focused on his, he couldn't figure out if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

"Damn, McKay," Laura said breathlessly enough to feed his ego just enough to make him want to grin.

The grin wouldn't come. It couldn't.

For a moment, something like panic began to develop in the pit of his stomach.

For so long he'd tried not to forget Jennifer. In fact, he'd tried so very hard to remember each and every detail about her and their time together. Every one of her idiosyncrasies had been carefully catalogued in his mind. Every single thing he loved about her had been secured in the indestructible vault in his brain where only the most important and special details deemed worthy of such protection were kept.

"Cadman," he tried, but he had no idea what to say.

"It's okay, Rodney," Cadman whispered as she moved her right hand towards Rodney's face. Her fingertips feathered along the side of his face and moved down to settle on his shoulder.

Cadman eased away from him, and despite the fact that his body wanted nothing more than to hold onto her, his mind overruled it and let her go.

"I care about you, Rodney," she said as she took a small backward step. "Take your time and figure out what you feel. I'm not going anywhere."

Rodney watched as Cadman turned and headed back towards the Mess. She was just about to turn the corner when she stopped and turned her head so that their eyes could connect. "But don't wait too long or I'll have to take matters into my own hands again."

The words escaped his mouth before he could even think about talking. "Is that a promise or threat?"

Cadman blinked, then a smirk formed on her lips. "Both," she replied before sailing around the corner and out of sight.

Rodney leaned back against the wall and tried to decipher the maelstrom of emotions in his chest. Through the feelings two questions emerged: Did he love Laura Cadman, and what would Jennifer say? Oddly enough, the answers to both questions appeared in his mind with crystal clarity and an absoluteness that truly surprised him.


	8. Chapter 8

_Seven…eight…nine…_

Laura growled into the darkness of her room and swore that the flutters in her stomach- the ones she'd been counting on and off since she'd gotten in bed three hours ago- had absolutely nothing to do with what had happened between her and Rodney earlier that day. Nothing.

She sighed and shimmied her lithe body into a more comfortable position facing the ceiling. There was a mental nod that surprised her. Even her inner self agreed the flutters had nothing to do with Rodney.

Nothing to do with their eerily quiet breakfast; nothing to do with their brief yet intense 'argument', such as it was; nothing to do with the way his warm lips felt against hers; nothing to do with the heat she felt from his hands as they caressed her back while they'd kissed; and it definitely had nothing to do with the way his tongue slid along her lip and then…

Laura shook her head to stop her mutinous mind and body from going places that they damn well shouldn't be going to. She rolled over onto her left side and pulled the blankets up under her chin. A quick glance at the clock on her night stand had her sighing in frustration… again. She had to get up in three short hours for her team's mission to M2X-329.

She closed her eyes and cuddled her face into her pillow only to groan when the next flutter hit.

_One…_

* * *

><p>"You okay, Lieutenant?"<p>

Laura looked up from her P-90, which she'd been dutifully examining for five minutes, and into the semi-amused and semi-concerned eyes of her team leader.

"I'm fine, sir," she replied with a crisp nod. At his raised eyebrow she smiled sheepishly and explained, "Didn't get much sleep last night."

Lorne's brow lowered and he stepped in closer to her. "Lieutenant, you'd tell me if…"

He stopped when she gave him an 'Are you kidding, sir?' look, and after a moment they shared a laugh at it.

"I'm fine, sir," she repeated with a smile.

The beginning of the dialing sequence grabbed their attention for a moment, and when Lorne looked back to her he said, "Okay…let's go."

Laura moved to follow her CO but something made her stop and turn around. Her eyes rose up to the balcony that over looked the gate room near Chuck's station to find Rodney looking down at her. His blue eyes drilled into hers with a passion that had those damn flutters starting up again. The fact that he looked like he'd gotten even less sleep than she had and his hands were gripping the rail so tight that she could see his white knuckles from where she was did nothing to lessen the intensity of his gaze.

His mouth opened and closed and Laura had to resist the urge to run to him. Instead she gave him a warm smile and small nod, then turned and marched through the gate, Rodney's mouthing of 'Be careful' making her steps lighter than usual.

* * *

><p>Two days later she approached the gate, her steps heavy with frustration, anger and fatigue. Their 'standard recon' had quickly turned into anything but a standard recon. Between torrential downpours that had started thirty minutes after their arrival to mudslides that had cut off their access to the gate for almost two days, the mission was a bust. That in itself was more than enough to put the team in a sour disposition. Add two nights of sleeping (and she used the term loosely) in the woods, in the rain with nothing to eat only ration packs, and the team was in a murderous mood.<p>

Laura however, was bordering on psychotic rage. She desperately wanted to get back to talk to Rodney, find out exactly what he'd meant by his silent 'Be careful'. Oh she knew he'd meant for her to actually be careful, but she wanted to know if there was more to it. Of course, all the more or less free time she'd had during the last day or so was just what she'd needed to relax and think about everything. Problem was the more she'd thought the less relaxed she'd become. She was so ready to go home.

By the time the gate sprung to life and she walked through it, she'd already formulated a primary, secondary and tertiary plan to get her to her room- and a scalding hot shower- ASAP.

The primary plan was in full motion by her third step into the gate room when a familiar voice had her stopping dead in her tracks.

"Hey there…"

Flutter.

_Damn it! One…_


	9. Chapter 9

"McKay."

Rodney groaned and swatted away whatever the hell was pushing at his arm. A small part of his mind had awoken just enough for him to realize that he was fully clothed on top of the blankets on his bed, and that it was morning.

"McKay!"

And he was going to kill whoever it was that was trying to wake him. Three guesses who that was.

"Rodney!"

Rodney quickly sat up and yelled, "WHAT!" Even through his sleep filled eyes he could see Sheppard jump in surprise, and while that gave him a little satisfaction it nowhere made him as happy as he'd been a few minutes ago when he'd been dreaming about strawberry blond hair and piercing hazel eyes.

Sheppard eyed him appraisingly and said, "Are you okay?"

"I was!" exclaimed Rodney with a growl in his voice and an eye roll to boot.

Sheppard crossed his arms across his chest and leaned back until his ass rested against Rodney's desk. "I bet, especially with visions of beautiful Marines dancing through your head."

Rodney sputtered indignantly, but the arrogant and self-satisfied smirk on Sheppard's face quelled the instinct. Defeated, Rodney softly asked, "What do you want, John?"

John's face softened as well and he said, "I just wanted to let you know that Lorne's team, including a certain beautiful Marine, will be coming through the gate in a few minutes."

Rodney was off the bed and moving before his brain could tell it to, and he was only slightly cognizant of Sheppard's chuckle coming from behind him as he strode through the corridors of the city. The dialing sequence was just starting as he walked into the gate room. He came to a stop and waited.

And thought.

It seemed as though he'd done more thinking in the past few days than he'd done in his entire life and power ratios, gate mechanics or work in general didn't account for much of it. In the beginning all he'd been able to think about was Jennifer. He'd thought about how much he'd been missing her and what she'd brought to his life. He'd thought about how she'd helped him become a better man, helped him tap the inner strength and love that he'd suppressed since childhood. Somewhere along the line, around three in the morning night before last, a stray thought had him gasping for air: Laura helped him in the same way. She helped be a better person and she did that because she cared about him.

Did he care for her? Yes, and hadn't the anxiety he'd been feeling since her team's first missed check in prove it? He had no idea when it had changed from being creeped out by her to caring about her, but it had. And as emotionally stunted as he'd been, even he knew it could lead to something else if he'd let her in.

He was spared further thought by the gate roaring to life. He looked up and saw the source of all his recent introspection barge through the gate in all her muddy glory.

All he could say was, "Hey there."

She came to an abrupt halt and after a moment her hand shot to her stomach. His eyes looked down at the movement, and chalking the action up to being hungry he looked back up into her eyes.

"Are you okay?" He winced, knowing full well that her team had spent several days on a waterlogged planet and that she wouldn't be okay.

Cadman rolled her eyes, then held her arms out to her side to give him a full view of her ruined uniform and then looked into his eyes. "I've been better, Rodney."

Rodney nodded and barely noticed Lorne and the rest of his team come through the gate and protectively circle their team mate.

"Talk!" he exclaimed more loudly than was necessary. To his relief only one of the heavily armed soldiers in the vicinity flinched. "We need to talk."

She took a small step towards him, a small smile gracing the lips that had figured prominently in the dream Sheppard had interrupted. Suddenly her nose crinkled and the smile disappeared from her mouth and her eyes clouded over.

"About what?" she demanded crossly. Rodney's eyes widened at her tone. In fact she'd sounded so angry that he was speechless. She looked at him expectantly for another moment before breezing past him for the door.

It wasn't until the last of her team mates passed by him that he turned and said, "Wait!"


	10. Chapter 10

She couldn't believe it. Rodney was in front of her telling her that they needed to talk. The corners of her traitorous lips moved upward into an unbidden smile as the gravity of what was transpiring weighed down upon her. She took a step towards him, and when she did she was reminded of the fact that she hadn't showered in two days. Her nose wrinkled in disgust at the smell radiating from her and she had to clamp down hard to keep from gagging.

"About what?" she asked while trying not to inhale too much of the gross smell of wet clothes, sweat and mud. At this point she didn't care if she sounded grumpy. She'd just spent two days in the rain which was reason enough to be crabby, but now the man she'd been trying to get to open up to her was trying to do just that and she smelled like she hadn't showered in two days and that wasn't how she'd envisioned that conversation happening. It wasn't how she **wanted** what might be the most important conversation of her adult life to happen.

As far as she was concerned she had a right to be a little pissed off.

She waited for Rodney to say something, remaining far enough away from him that he wouldn't be assaulted by her odor, but he simply stared at her. Finally she'd had enough and rushed past him towards the door and the nearest shower. The sooner she showered the sooner she could talk to him without anything distracting her. She heard the footfalls of her team mates behind her as she rushed towards the door, and she silently thanked them for having her back…literally in this case.

"Wait!"

She brought up solid and almost had Lorne barrel into her back. She sighed and slowly turned around to face him. Her team mates blocked her view, and each of them was looking her square in the eyes. She took a moment to collect herself and then gave the men a small nod. The men stepped back, with Lorne holding out the longest to give her as much time as possible to change her mind. When the sea of men had receded, Rodney came into view and it wasn't until she took a moment to really focus on Rodney's blue eyes that she saw the hurt in them.

He said something, but he'd said it so softly that she wouldn't have known he'd spoken at all except for the fact that she'd seen his lips move. "I didn't hear you, Rodney," she said, forcing her voice to be calm and void of any hint of anger and frustration.

Rodney glanced around the room and spoke again, and though his voice was louder so that what he'd said registered as a mutter she still couldn't understand what he was saying.

She could see he was struggling. She wanted to calmly ask him to repeat what he'd said; she wanted so desperately to ease his apparent suffering.

"What?" she blurted out far louder than she'd meant to.

_Damn Laura… that's the best you can do!?_

Rodney's face seemed to instantly turn red and it was the only warning he gave before yelling as only Rodney McKay could yell into the crowded gate room, "I care about you, too!"

Laura gasped, as did a few other people in the room. There were gasps, coughs, grunts and various other exclamations of surprise, as well as an excited 'YES!' from a certain spiky-haired Cupid wannabe Colonel.

An eerie tranquility settled about Laura. Her left hand calmly reached for the clip that held her P-90 to her vest and undid it without any trouble. There wasn't even so much as a tremble in her right arm as she held the weapon out for Lorne to take. When he'd relieved her of that burden she walked towards Rodney with sure and steady steps, the slight squishing noise made by her waterlogged combat boots no longer bothering her in the slightest.

Rodney's eyes had been glued to hers since his strident proclamation of affection, and they followed her as she approached him.

She didn't stop until her body was pressed against his. Her arms went around his neck and she gently pulled his head towards hers. Their lips touched and Laura was deafened by the fireworks exploding within her chest, as well as the thunderous applause, catcalls and whistles from their gleeful audience.

Rodney's arms snaked around her waist, pulling her body even tighter against his, as he deepened the kiss by rubbing his tongue along her lips before gently pushing into her mouth.

It caught her by surprise even though she was aware that he was a great kisser, but she recovered quickly and returned the favor with just as much enthusiasm as him.

The boisterous encouragement was still raining down upon them from every angle as their kiss slowly ended, leaving Laura breathless and yearning for more. Rodney's eyes were blazing and for some reason the only thing she could say was, "What are we doing?"

Rodney's nose quirked and he said with a smirk, "Well, you're smelling like a wet dog," the smirk vanished, and before she could say what she thought he was he added with a smile, "And I'm letting you in."


	11. Chapter 11

Yes, it has been a long time. Yes, I thought I was done with it. No, I don't know where this came from. Yes, I hope it makes you laugh. No beta and MGM owns SGA.

* * *

><p>"Hey there, Beautiful."<p>

Laura stiffened and nearly reached to her hip for the sidearm that wasn't there at the moment. His was a voice she'd hoped never to hear again and hearing it made her want to shoot something. She looked up from the report she'd been trying to read for two hours- paperwork was something with which she still hadn't come to terms with despite having been promoted to Major two years earlier- and nearly vomited at the sight.

Alex was standing before her in all his glory. It had been years since she'd even thought of him much less seen him, but damn him to hell he hadn't changed a bit. Not an ounce of extra weight on his athletic body. Not a hint of gray in his short jet black hair. Not a wrinkle on his chiseled face.

Nothing.

Laura could taste the bile burning the back of her throat and she had to swallow hard to force it back.

Alex chuckled and said, "I always could leave you speechless."

And he was right. At first it had been because of his looks and then his body and what he could do to her…he could always take her breath away. Then it had been because of his betrayal and pain he'd put her through. But now, her AWOL voice was due to nothing but disgust.

She coughed to clear her throat and managed to keep her voice calm and even when she spoke. "What can I do for you, Captain?"

She was very careful not to put too much emphasis on his lower rank, but the small flash of irritation in his dark eyes told her he'd heard something in it.

Laura just managed to resist smirking. He was older than her by a few years and had been in the Corps longer than she had. It must have galled him a little to find out she now held a higher rank than him and was the second highest ranking officer of the legendary city of Atlantis in another galaxy.

"I was hoping we'd gotten past all of that, Beautiful," he tried. His voice was even more angelic than it had been. Had she really found that attractive about him?

Now Laura really wanted to hurl.

"I got past all of that a long time ago, Captain," said Laura with a jovial smile that turned predatory as she leaned forward as much as she was able and added, "And you can call me Major Cadman, Major or ma'am. Calling me anything else gets you a reprimand and a step closer to making your stay the shortest in the history of Atlantis."

Laura picked up her tablet and stood up from the table. She looked up as she prepared to leave and stopped at the wide-eyed look on Alex's face. "Yes?" she inquired irritably.

"God, Laura," Alex breathed as his eyes found hers for a second and then fell downward to her round stomach. "Who knocked you up?"

The last thing Laura thought before her vision went red was, _This can't be good for the baby!_


End file.
